


Insomnia and Coffee Dates

by cloudfromffvii



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: !!, Aromantic Character, Christmas, Other, Secret Santa, food m
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 12:34:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5540144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudfromffvii/pseuds/cloudfromffvii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Ienzo is a regular insomniac and has a penchant for baking. Secret Santa.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Insomnia and Coffee Dates

**Author's Note:**

> secret santa 2k15 for tumblr user alternate-ienzo! i hope you enjoy it as much as i enjoyed writing it!! ;u;

“Have you been up all night?”

Ienzo didn't even bother looking up from the bowl of ingredients he was mixing at the counter, greeting her with little more than a grunt of acknowledgement. With the kitchen light on he hadn't noticed the sunrise; looking up though, he could clearly see the sun hanging low over the horizon through the bare windows above the curtains. Which reminded him, they did need curtains for the kitchen. That was Arlene's present taken care for, then.

The blonde woman shook her head, clicking her tongue and making her way over to the refrigerator to grab the milk. Opening the door revealed that shelves that were mostly empty last night, were now holding a brownie with icing, a couple of molds holding little chocolates, and a cheesecake setting in its pan. Of course, with the milk sitting neatly in the door. At least Ienzo was good about putting the milk back in the fridge.

“You're damn lucky you left enough milk for my coffee,” the woman warned, bumping the fridge door closed with her hip. The man just chuckled back. “I suppose you're not heartless after all.”

Ienzo scowled faintly, glancing over his shoulder at her. “That's a joke in poor taste and you know it,” he chided, grabbing the jug for her and filling it in the sink before putting it on to boil. “I'll get more milk while I'm out,” he offered, stifling a yawn before returning to his mixing. Besides his mixing bowl, the rest of their relatively limited bench space was taken up by a pair of cooling trays (one holding muffins and the other cookies), various containers of dry ingredients, and empty pans. His roommate set the milk carton down and scooped up the pans and dropped them in the sink with a clang, before reaching up into the overhead cupboards to grab herself a mug.

“You're not gonna catch a nap first?” She shuffled around him, fishing around in the cutlery drawer for a spoon. Ienzo shook his head, continuing to stir his mixture as he watched her spoon coffee granules and sugar into her cup. There were dark bags under his eyes, an exhausted purple to match the dye of his hair.

“I'm meeting someone for breakfast once I've finished this last batch,” he explained, returning to his work as the jug whistled. Arlene melted her coffee with hot water, finishing off the rest of the milk by pouring it into her cup. She sat herself down at the table, watching as her roomie went about his business.

“As long as you clean this up before you go, kid.”

-

He hadn't really been watching where he was going as he wandered down the main street sidewalk, hands in his pockets and a satchel slung over his shoulder. Aeleus had commented on the dark circles under his eyes and the shakiness of his hands, but he dropped it the moment Ienzo waved it off and promised to catch up on sleep when he returned him. Aeleus was a good friend- his closest friend- and was well aware of the smaller man's insomnia. Hounding would get them nowhere.

Although he didn't have a particularly sweet tooth, Aeleus did enjoy cheesecake. So one of the first things Ienzo had decided to bake when he couldn't sleep was exactly that; a white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake. In return, his friend had given him the third book in a series he'd been meaning to read. 

It was only Christmas eve, but neither of them really celebrated the holiday anyway. Ienzo thought it arbitrary at best to limit gift giving to a single day. But the act of gifting made other people happy and he was happy to oblige. And with his exchange with Aeleus complete, he only had one more meeting set up this morning to get done before he head home and try to catch a bit of sleep.

Reflecting on his morning, he was caught in his own thoughts right up until he walked directly into someone. He brought his hands up and bowed his head further, getting ready to apologise and hurry past when he heard a familiar laugh. A pretty laugh that sounded something like bells, appropriately enough.

Bundled up in a thick winter coat and a woollen hat stood the second friend he'd arranged to meet that day. Aqua pushed her fringe out of her face and tucked it into her hat behind her ear, her nose and cheeks red from the chill. It wasn't snowing today, and it wasn't even particularly wet but it was cold. Wearing the clothes he'd been in all night hadn't been the best idea but Ienzo wasn't particularly sensitive to the cold anyway.

Coincidentally, he was suddenly feeling a fair bit warmer.

“I wasn't expecting to run into you so early,” she grinned. His heart- ah yes, he had one of those- felt like it skipped a beat. Her eyes, sparkling even on such a dreary day, studied his face for a few seconds before her smile softened. “God, you look a bit like death warmed up, boy.”

The smallest tinge of red flushed to his cheeks as she spoke, but it was easy enough to fob off on the wind chill. Ienzo took a second to clear his throat, burying his hands into his pockets and giving a little shrug. “I didn't get a particularly good night's rest, is all,” he murmured, almost in apology. Aqua chuckled again, before touching his shoulder (thank god she didn't notice the tiny flinch- and if she did, she was kind enough not to mention it) and gently beginning to turn him around.

“Well then, I'm guessing then a coffee'd do you good. If, y'know, you don't mind shifting our hangout forward an hour or two.” Her smile was like literal sunshine; it could brighten up any dull situation. Even Ienzo's sleep-deprived slog through the morning. “My shout.”

“You don't need to do that-”

“But you're gonna let me because I'm great.”

Well, there was nothing to do about it now. Ienzo let himself be led down the sidewalk back the way he'd come, past the bakery that he'd met Aeleus at for breakfast; of course now that Aqua had decided she was paying, it was her choice of cafe.

-

“Here you are,” chirped the waitress, dark hair long and straight and tied back, as she placed down her tray and began to hand out what the pair had ordered. “A soy coffee and a bacon quiche over here, and a double shot mochaccino and a chocolate croissant for the lady.” Her grin was almost as bright as Aqua's, he noticed, and she laughed and waved her hand at them, returning to the counter as the pair thanked her. “I hope the rest of your day is far more magical than the weather we've got.”

Ienzo kept his eyes low as he unwrapped his knife and fork, starting on his quiche quietly. Aqua took her spoon and began scooping the foam off her drink, and the pair of them sat in a silence that was only slightly awkward for a minute or two. 

“It was really nice of you to invite me out,” the woman smiled, her beanie-flattened hair dyed dark blue with a brown regrowth showing. She didn't even seem to acknowledge that it was technically her taking him out now- but honestly, Ienzo didn't mind all that much. Student life didn't leave much money left at the end of the week to blow on coffee dates. Not that. This was a date. This wasn't a date. This was friends meeting for coffee. (He actually knew that Aqua wasn't interested in romance at all, but that didn't stop the giddiness in his chest when she'd said yes.) “We don't get to hang out very often, it's cool getting to catch up!”

Her attempts at conversation were appreciated, truly, but social anxiety had started taking hold and he remained focussed on his food. So Aqua turned half of her attention to her own baked good, and the pair of them endured another minute or two of kinda tense silence before Ienzo put down his utensils and looked straight into the woman's eyes.

“I made something for you,” he blurted out, immediately reaching for the backpack he'd placed under their table, and opening it to dig through. Aqua's head tilted a little as she watched the younger man, their gaze never breaking as pink began to creep back onto his face. “For Christmas,” he added on quickly, before finally pulling out a small gauze bag, a little larger than his own hand.

He thrust it out toward her, looking down as she delicately took it from his hands. The little bag was tied with shiny blue ribbon, and from what she could see through the coloured gauze, it looked like.... little chocolates?

On opening it and pouring a couple of the chocolates out onto her plate, she was greeted with a little sea horse, a couple of starfish and a seashell. Inside there were also other seashell shapes with the stars and the horses. Ienzo could have sworn his heart skipped another beat, his breath held while she stared down at her gift. Did she not like them?

No, that didn't seem to be the case. Aqua made a small noise in the back of her throat- she'd been admiring his crafts. He lifted his head at that noise, and she hesitantly took the starfish and popped it in her mouth.

“Did you make these yourself?” she asked, her beautiful, shining smile spreading back onto her face. The short man nodded quietly, trying to pull his gaze away from her face- it wasn't happening. Her grin only continued to spread further, lighting up her face and (he could have sworn) the room around them, too. “That's choice, man. You're so sweet. Thank you!”

“Don't mention it,” Ienzo finally nodded, his voice cracking just a little bit. He'd lost quite a few nights of sleep over it- not that he needed a reason beyond insomnia itself to miss sleep- but now, it didn't matter to him that his affection wasn't returned. The corner of his lips quirked up a little in a small smile. “I just like making people happy.”


End file.
